Eating Healthily To Prepare For Your Wedding

Eating healthily is something we should all do but sometimes it’s hard. Let’s face it, it’s often easier to grab an unhealthy option on the run than it is to go for the healthy option. Life gets busy, we’re all running to stand still sometimes! There are some times in our lives when we decide to really take the bull by the horns and lose weight. Preparing for your wedding could be one of those times.

I have struggled with my weight for all of my adult life. I thought I did as a teenager too, but looking back on photos I can see that I really didn’t have a problem. Yes, I may have been larger than other girls my age, but I wasn’t really fat. I have my grandfather and father to thank for my bone structure rather than taking after my much more petite grandmother and mother! Hey ho, it is what it is and we just have to make the most of what nature doled out to us. In recent years I have also had health issues that have had a detrimental effect on my weight, but it doesn’t stop me from (almost) constantly trying to lose weight.

Eating healthily is important to me in this battle. When I don’t have veggies and salad, when I overload on carbs and sugar it makes me feel rubbish. I have tried a fair few diets over the years. Some have worked short term but none have had a lasting effect. Except for the self devised chicken Caesar salad and wine diet, but I wouldn’t recommend it really!

Fad Diets

Let’s take a look at a small sample of the fad diets that have taken us by storm. And then disappeared (hopefully!). Some of which I have tried.

The Raw Food Diet

In principal this looks like a very good idea. You increase your fruit and veg intake which has got to be a great way of eating healthily. And you cut out the rubbish. This helps you to lose weight. But doesn’t it sound pretty bland and boring? Now I like a nice big plate of salad, but I also like some cooked chicken or fish with it! We all need protein in our diets, and yes, you can get that from nuts etc but I’m still left feeling that it’s bland.

The Alkaline Diet

This is a very complicated and strict diet. You have to cut out meat, dairy, sweets, caffeine, alcohol, artificial and processed foods. Yes, you have to increase fresh fruit and veg, nuts and seeds so like the raw food diet it has it’s plus points. However, cutting out meat and dairy to my mind (and I’m no expert) is not a great idea. There’s also no research or evidence that only eating alkaline foods makes you lose weight.

The Werewolf Diet

I mean, seriously?! (No, this isn’t one I’ve tried!). This involves fasting according to the lunar calendar. During a full or new moon you have to fast, only drinking water and juice. It also has specific eating plans for each phase of the moon. Yeah, no thanks – way too complicated for me!

The Hollywood Cookie Diet

Ok, so I inadvertently did a version of this one at one point. It was during my divorce, I was stressed to the hilt, moving house with two young children and it was manically busy at work. It was around Christmas time and happy customers kept bringing in boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocs to the office. Who knew that chocoloate was a food group in itself?! I was eating the chocs during the day and having a meal in the evening with the children. Seriously though, although I did lose weight I was far from eating healthily and it had a detrimental effect on my health. The actual cookie diet isn’t chocolate hobnobs and gingernuts, but high protein, high fibre cookies during the day and a proper meal in the evening. Sounds like a recipe for bingeing in the evening to me if you’ve deprived yourself all day.

The Ducan Diet

Yes I tried it, yes I lost weight. But was I happy? No. This is so restrictive that you’re not allowed fruit and veg for weeks on end, mainly protein. It’s great for losing weight but it has some pretty unpleasant side effect. Bad breath and bad digestion – not pleasant!

The Cabbage Soup Diet

Cabbage soup two to three times daily with other very low calorie foods? Yes, you’ll lose weight, but it’s a quick fix diet. And just think what all that cabbage is going to do to you inside. It’s very well known for making you gassy and flatulent. Nice. And boring. Not exactly balanced.

Meal Replacement Diets

Like all of the above diets these ones will certainly make you lose weight – usually pretty fast. However, as with everything, once you start eating properly again you’re likely to pile it all back on – and more. Let’s face it, there aren’t many people out there who would willingly give up proper food forever!

Eating Healthily

So what’s the answer? After a rather chequered history of fad dieting myself I am now a firm believer in eating healthily as a way of life. I’m not the size 10/12 I was 15 years ago, time and ill health have taken their toll, however, I do feel pretty healthy most of the time due to eating healthily

As I said at the beginning of the post, life gets busy, we’re always rushing around with little time to slow down and smell the coffee. Eating healthily is definitely the answer, as well as helping you to lose weight it will also give you more energy. But thinking up new recipes, especially quick and easy ones, takes a bit of effort.

Enter the Hairy Bikers. For those of you who haven’t heard of them, they’re the hairy-faced, down-to-earth cooks with a love for hearty, wholesome food off the telly. They had a hit BBC TV series. They adore food – can’t get enough of the stuff. But after years of eating whatever they wanted, the pounds piled on and their health began to suffer. In 2012 they bit the bullet and got on the scales. And got a massive shock!

They shared their weight loss journey with the nation. Each of them lost 3 stone in 3 months just by cutting back on their portions and creating healthier versions of their favourite recipes. They didn’t follow any fad diets, they didn’t live off lettuce and water. They just enjoyed a lifestyle of eating healthily and exercise.

When their book, packed full of all their healthy recipes, was released it knocked Fifty Shades off the UK bestseller chart. Their attitude to life and eating healthily resonated with people. Health and happiness is something that is very close to their hearts so they decided to set up their own Hairy Bikers Diet Club to help others. With just a few simple lifestyle changes, they’re all about good food, not rabbit food.

On their website there are various different plans. Currently the Diet Plan comes with one month free. There’s also a new course designed specially for blokes, one for busy mums and the Fast Food Course. No, it’s not where you eat from fast food outlets all you like and lose weight! It’s a course to give you the knowledge and skills to create delicious meals in under 30 minutes and currently comes with a free Hairy Dieters Fast Food cookbook and a Hairy Bikers Griddle Pan.

From starting the day off right, weekday lunches that aren’t just soggy sarnies, snacks to give you a boost during the day and ideas and mouth watering recipes that will please the whole family. There’s also a quiz at the end of the course with a certificate.

In Conclusion

There is no quick fix that will give long lasting results. But in preparation for your wedding and beyond you can be eating healthily with a wide variety of delicious foods and lose weight to boot. Not to mention the positive effect on your skin. It’s not always easy to change bad habits. Sugar is addictive, but with a bit of willpower and effort it is possible.